音の帯〜Phonon Belt

Hirasawa Susumu (Unofficial) Lyrics & Other Sundry Translations

I can't find the lyrics for P-Model's "Sophisticated" (which happen to be in English), so I am going to write down what I hear. (Corrections are always welcome.) This song is awesome, both for it's extremely socially critical content and the GLORIOUS little electronic blips and squeaks and clicks, which are particularly awesome when you listen to this song with headphones.

P-Model - "Sophisticated"

Sophisticated, the supermarketSophisticated, the apartmentSophisticated, the fried chicken*Sophisticated, the make-up hanging up

Sophisticated, the speaking thinkingSophisticated, the masturbationSophisticated, the Japanese girlsSophisticated, the Japanese boys

Sophisticated television imageSophisticated, the school boys' deaths**Sophisticated, the music playSophisticated, the foreign language song

(repeat all)

Translation Notes:

* Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan was established in 1970 and (after a floundering start in Nagoya) eventually opened its first Tokyo store in 1971 in Aoyama. The official KFC Japan legend is that at this very store, a foreigner in Japan came by one day and said, "I can't find turkey in Japan, so I think I'll use KFC's chicken at my Christmas dinner instead." In 1974, KFC Japan started having an annual campaign of selling chicken for Christmas, which caught on to the point that many Japanese continue to associate fried chicken with Christmas, to the bemusement of many Westerners. The KFC boom is just another example of the extreme westernization sweeping through Japan at the time.

** The Japan Police Agency apparently started collecting data on the number of student suicides in 1978, which oddly fits with the timing of this song. Don't know if there was an uptick in student suicides or something, though.

Sophisticated, featuring things that totally aren't. And things you don't expect to hear from [current] Hirasawa.* I wonder if there's ever been a time when Hirasawa hasn't loved contradictions.

*Given KFC's long standing popularity in Japan, I can imagine extra reason for Hirasawa to choose fried chicken over any other particular western food. Though they're still the only place I like mashed potatoes and gravy from...

Article "the"

I think he doesn't really pronounce the article "the" here. I think it is just an exaggeration of how the Japanese speak English, so "sophisticated" becomes "sofisutikeiteddo". This is where the extra syllable comes out, which you mistook for the article "the".